1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a golf club head with improved face and hosel material properties. In particular, the inventive method bifurcates the material properties of face and hosel using a single hardening process so that the face is hard enough to maintain excellent spin via improved durability of the performance-related features and textures, and the hosel is soft enough to allow for loft and lie adjustment via bending processes.
2. Description of the Related Art
Wedges typically are made from softer steel materials than other irons to optimize feel during play and to allow the loft and lie of the club to be adjusted by bending the hosel. Wedges also preferably have playability characteristics such as increased spin off the face, which is mostly influenced by features like scorelines, micro-features proximate the scorelines, and textured contact surfaces. Unfortunately, the softer the material of the wedge, the easier it is for these features to wear out or deform from use. Wedge manufacturers have tried to improve the durability of face features without reducing hosel bendability by, for example, localized induction hardening or case hardening the hitting area of the face, and induction annealing the bendable region of the hosel. All of these methods require that any equipment used be localized and fine tuned for face regions of the club head, and the heating processes associated with these methods typically can only be performed on individual parts or a small batch of parts at any one time. These approaches may also require custom designed heating elements that may not be reusable for small variations in head geometry.
Therefore, there is a need for a simple, scalable method of hardening wedge faces and improving scoreline durability without reducing the bendability of their hosels or otherwise changing the clubs' bending profiles.